Great Copy!

I don't know why all the obits on Miller say he called people "Champion." He always called me "Slugger." "Hey Slugger!" he'd shout in that raspy voice. Anyway I assume you've all read the Von Drehle appreciation that ran Saturday. I thought it was perfect. [In case you're just getting up to speed, one of our mentors, Gene Miller, a character straight out of The Front Page, passed away Friday.]

There are legions of us who will do everything we can to make sure that Von Drehle outlives us, so that he'll write our obits. We will take drastic measures, every gadget they've got, tubes up the wazoo, iron lung, morphine, transfusions, strange drugs smuggled in from Mexico, magic incantations, potions, chants, aromatherapy, whatever. I might even pray. Yes, it's that important. In fact I'm going to go over there now and make sure he's been eating properly. No more burgers and fries for Dave.

Can't you just get Von Drehle to pre-write your obituary? Yes, he'd need to add some speculation to fill in what hasn't happened yet, but done properly this could be a good opportunity:

"Few would have suspected that from such inauspicious beginnings, Achenbach would go on to achieve the intellectual hat trick, winning both the Pulitzer and Nobel Prizes, and receiving a MacArthur Foundation 'genius' grant. His discovery of a miracle drug capable of curing both cancer and male-pattern baldness made him the toast of the nation, with Main Streets everywhere renamed into Achenbach Avenues...."

Thanks for all the good stuff on Gene Miller. We're losing that generation of newspapermen (and women) by the day. Arkansas lost one in May -- a crusty, legendary and eminently right -- city editor Bill Shelton of the late and lamented Arkansas Gazette. He and Gene are having cocktails together.
Thanks.